There was way too much going on in this one. We had 7 POVs and we barely stay with anyone long enough to even get settled in to what is going on. I think the author did this in order to get to the ending that we did that was just confusing and not heart-warming to me. This book was just a mess to me.

"What Remains True" follows the Davenport family a month after the family has lost their young son (Jonah). The family is fractured with the mother in a drug induced haze (Rachel), the father hiding at work (Sam), the daughter feeling lost and alone (Eden) and Rachel's sister feeling as if she is the only one who can fix it (Ruth). We even get to see Jonah's POV along with the family dog.

I wish that Thomas had allowed us to just read the story straight through. We are left in the dark a good portion of the book which made it hard to keep reading this. When things get revealed you end up feeling a bit fed up (at least I did) and just wish things would wrap up fast.

I can't even say that I liked anyone character's POV the most. Including the therapist POV's was a mistake to me. She had enough going on that it distracted from the book. I really disliked Ruth's POV though. I didn't have a lot of sympathy for her.

The writing was just okay, I didn't get a sense of different voices in this one. It just felt endless after a while. The flow was shot too. I think it would have been better to flip the book to show what happened via everyone's POV first, then the aftemath a month later, them at the therapist, then what really happened via Jonah's POV.

The ending was not good though. It just forced a happy ending where the book seemed to be heading somewhere else. Maybe it would have been ugly what happened afterwards, but at least it would have been more realistic.

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Salem holds a strong place in the American psyche. In part, this is due to making students read Arthur Miller’s the Crucible. Perhaps it is the stories that surround the town of Salem itself. The story itself has been examined a variety of ways. Thomas Gilbert’s feminist take is not the first such.

Though it might be the best fictional take.

Gilbert’s story focuses on the young girls in the town of Salem, in particular Abagail, and how the women are controlled by the male dominated society. He also works in the culture clash between the Native Americans and the European colonizers.

It is a harsh story, but the way Gilbert tells it, it becomes a more powerful story. It tackles the issues of how a society views those who are different. The focus on the fear of the other as well as a woman’s ability to reproduce make this story and graphic novel timely.

“I was thinking I like you. A lot.” She sighed, nervously fluffing her long blonde hair. “And I don’t want to scare you off.”

“How would you scare me off?” His stare became intense, gaze never wavering from her face.

She took a deep breath, bolstering courage. “I’m not normal. Not like everyone else.”

His grin was filled with indulgence, making him more handsome than before. “If I wanted normal, I would have asked normal out. Instead, I asked you.”

“But you don’t really know me. I’m different.”

“I’m different too, if you haven’t noticed?”

She had. All throughout dinner and dessert, he’d not looked at any other woman in the room, not even the waitress when ordering. His mesmerizing gaze had remained on her.

“I need certain things. Things normal women don’t want.” She looked down at her hands in her lap, not believing she was going all in this soon.

“Tell me,” he insisted. “I won’t judge. Whatever it is.”

Author Bio:

Edgy and provocative in his erotic writings, Thomas Briar strives to exalt the virtues of love and lust in every story he creates. To date, he's written a wide variety in the subgenres of New Adult, Contemporary, Historical, Interracial, and BDSM. He also takes great pride in the fact that he writes the type of erotic stories that twist and turn as the hero and heroine strive wholeheartedly to get exactly what they want from each other.

Which means most of his stories run on the hotter side of the erotica genre with his characters indulging in the type of sex that some would call smutty. For, without a doubt, writing scorching hot sex scenes is Thomas' absolute favorite thing about writing erotica. Well, that, and making sure his characters end up living happily ever after.

Feel free to check out his website at http://thomasbriar.com to find out more about Thomas.

Don't let this rather vague-looking cover trick you into thinking this is not a full-fledged horror story. THE PIGEON is not some little psychological tale with a talking bird or poetry like an Edgar Allan Poe story. And it's not some fancy literary fiction either. It's an in-your-face, fast paced, gory, twisty-turny little novella that might even make you laugh at times. How much fun is that? A lot! It's a LOT of fun.

When Andrew Lennon asked me if I could review this book last fall I think it was, I said sure without really knowing what I was getting myself into. If I had known it was this short, I probably would have tried to squeeze it in even sooner.

A young lady hates her job and is being stalked by her ex-boyfriend. He shows up at her house and things just go downhill from there. Fast! There's no way I can get across to you how surprised I was at nearly every turn this story took. And it's because of the fact that I want you to be surprised too, that I'm not going to go further into the plot.

If you like your horror unpredictable, bloody and gory, with a sense of humor on the side? THE PIGEON is for you!

The Daughters of Salem is a first part in a retelling of the events that let up to the witch trials in Salem and focuses on the misogynistic atmosphere that was around in the puritan times. While this initially sounded like an interesting take on a well known story, it fell a bit flat for me.

The struggles of the women come across, but all of them seem overly done and I didn't care for any of the characters really. There was a part one easily might consider racist. The art was very modest, which fit the puritan themes but was not really my cup of tea either. I don't think I will be continuing this series, especially since I already know where it is heading.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

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